1031 - Mobility and Structural Barriers Contribute to Loss to Follow up from HIV Care in Rural South Africa

Background: Retention in care is critical to achieving and sustaining viral load suppression, and reducing HIV transmission, yet lost to follow-up (LTFU) in South Africa remains substantial. We sought to understand reasons for disengagement and return to care in neglected rural settings.

Methods: Using convenience sampling, surveys were completed by 102 PLWH who disengaged from ART (minimum 90 days) and subsequently resumed care.  A subset (n=60) completed individual in-depth interviews. Questions assessed HIV knowledge, stigma, barriers to health care, and reasons for both disengaging and returning to care.

Results: Among 102 participants (53% female), median duration of ART discontinuation was 9 months (IQR 4-22). Participants had HIV knowledge gaps regarding HIV transmission and increased risk of tuberculosis. Two thirds were unaware that ART prevents transmission to other sexual partners. The major contributors to LTFU were mobility and structural barriers. PLWH traveled for an urgent family need or employment and were not able to collect ART while away. Structural barriers included inability to access care, due to lack of financial resources to reach distant clinics, HIV stigma, dissatisfaction with being treated at an HIV specific clinic, pill fatigue and lack of social support. Illness was the major precipitant of returning to care.

Conclusion: Among those returning to HIV care, patient motivation to continue ART was high, but mobility and structural barriers impede longitudinal HIV care in rural South Africa, threatening the gains made from expanded ART access. To achieve 90-90-90, future interventions to improve retention must address barriers relevant to rural settings including emphasis on patient-centered care such as multi-month ART prescriptions, expanding medication distribution sites, including community-based dispensing sites, integrating ART into primary care, and facilitating linkage to remote facilities when away from their home clinic. Healthcare workers should be capacitated to identify patients’ barriers to chronic care and intervene on those at high risk of LTFU.